A migrant died on Wednesday in an attempt to cross the Channel, bringing to at least 57 the number of deaths in this type of crossing in 2024, we learned from the maritime prefecture.
This migrant, a “adult man”was in cardio-respiratory arrest in the sea off Hardelot (Pas-de-Calais), where around ten people were also in the water, explained the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea .
He was airlifted before being declared dead on land, she said, noting numerous crossing attempts that night due to favorable weather conditions.
Significant rescue resources are deployed on the seafront, including fire trucks with flashing lights, and around twenty migrants are taken into building lobbies to warm up, AFP journalists noted. They also saw a punctured black and blue canoe lying on the beach.
A group of six soaked migrants, some wrapped in survival blankets, were also on a bench three kilometers from the coast.
A member of the Utopia 56 association on site indicated that several people were “in severe hypothermia”. She reports a “very complicated start”Or “everyone ended up in the water”.
“The figure that has stood out to us for several months is one person who dies every 5 days” in these crossing attempts since the beginning of the year, a coordinator of this association helping exiles responded to AFP. “The situation is more than dramatic. Rescue at sea and on land is overwhelmed by events”.
He denounces the “disastrous desire to continue on the path of repression”.